Here in Los Angeles if there’s anything more prized than making movies it’s writing stories that become movies. Maybe that’s why LA was a natural place for Scribble Press, a make-your-own-book store where children can write, illustrate and publish their own books. Created by two mommy friends, this simple and reasonably priced press — a storefront with desks, art materials, and story templates to stimulate ideas — was an instant hit with my five-year-old son. To my amazement he was able to write and illustrate a story in a two-hour visit and watch it turn into a real book. At first I thought the writing process might be too difficult for a kiddo his age, but I was assured that much younger kids had authored before him.

We sat down at a cozy table and followed a series of simple questions like “The name of the first song on the album is______.”, designed to get his words and pictures flowing. My little guy invented a character – a boy who wanted to be a rock star.

Scribble Press uses a bit of high-tech magic to produce a high quality board book with a photo of the author — but for my son and me, the real magic was the way he came up with an idea and put it in writing. Not only are they super fun for the kids to make, they make fantastic gifts and Scribble Press even offers custom book options made from art your child has already created elsewhere. If you’re like me and your preschooler comes home with an absolute overflow of paintings, drawings and scribbles, you can now hand those over to Scribble Press and they will scan them and either keep each image separate, or they will collage the works of art into a beautiful book that is creative, high quality, lasting and COMPACT.
In addition to the store in Santa Monica, they now have a new branch which opened up in New York City!

My three-year-old Nico made his daddy’s father’s day gift there. He made him personalized notepads that my husband took to work and proudly uses (so he tells us!). He has also made a bunch of place mats that we use everyday and gave to the grandparents as gifts.

thanks, Kaela – glad you like Scribble Press and thanks to everyone for the comments! We’ll be opening on the Upper West Side of NYC in November and we are open on First Avenue in NYC right now. We hope to be in London and other cities soon! Connect with us on facebook or twitter for more info. Thanks and we love babyccinokids!